SHAHINE



The Shahine is a self-propelled SAM system of French origin. It was developed in the 1970's for a contract awarded by Saudi Arabia. The Shahine is a further developed and more capable version of the widely used Crotale self-propelled SAM system. The Shahine was developed to keep up with armored forces and is to provide air defense at the front line.


The Shahine system uses the R460 missile, which is a further developed version of the R440 missile used by the Crotale system. The missile has a conventional layout. The fuze and control vanes are located at the front, followed by the warhead and battery. The solid propellant rocket motor makes up the middle and the cruciform wings and radar receiver are located at the rear.


The Shahine system consists of a fire unit with six missiles and a fire control radar and a separate acquisition radar. The majority of Shahine systems are based on the AMX-30 tracked chassis, although a towed shelter version was also produced. Usually a single acquisition is accompanied by two firing units. Additionally truck based transloaders with additional missiles accompany the Shahine system.


Targets are acquired by the Shahine acquisition unit, which can also be given data from the TSQ-73 command center through the Shahine data link. The R460 missiles use radar command guidance towards the targets. Up to two missiles can be launched against a single target at a time. Alternatively the missiles may be guided optically in high ECM environments.



The R460 missile performs better than the Crotale and has a speed of up to Mach 2.8. The maximum range is 11.8 km targets can be engaged up 6 km altitude. The kill probability is given as 0.9 against a Mach 0.75 target and 0.99 for a two missile salvo. The lethal range of the HE-frag warhead is 8 meter.


The tracked chassis allows the Shahine to keep up with armored units. It provides a good cross country mobility and reasonable road speed. A 620 hp diesel engine provides propulsion and an APU is fitted to provide power when the engine is not running.










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